The University of Oregon provides two different paths to introduce students to the niche medium of metalsmithing. Both the department of art and the UO Craft Center in the EMU offer various metalsmithing and jewelry making courses or workshops in different formats.
Senior Lili Wechsler-Azen is a jewelry studio instructor at the UO Craft Center and teaches the Silver Rings workshop. Wechsler-Azen started working at the Craft Center during her freshman year because she wanted to have access to the various studios.
“Our main goal is making art accessible to people even if you think you’re not an artist, we always have something for you,” Wechsler-Azen said.
Wechsler-Azen got her start in metalsmithing as a workshop technician where she would help out in the workshops. Later, she was asked to teach the ring making class.
The Silver Rings workshop serves as an introduction to the rest of the metalsmithing courses at the Craft Center. This class is not required, but introduces a lot of fundamentals to metalsmithing.
The metalsmithing studio in the Craft Center is open to students, faculty and community members who have metal smithing experience. If that experience doesn’t come from the Craft Center itself, hopeful metalsmiths will have to take the free orientation course to gain access to the studio.
“There are a lot of opportunities for basic metalsmithing like making a silver ring, or you can do more detailed fabrication work,” Wechsler-Azen said.
Once the basics are taken care of, the Craft Center offers metalsmiths a lot of freedom in the workshop. Wechsler-Azen said she has recently gotten into enameling: the process of fusing glass onto metal.
One big stipulation is the Craft Center has a policy against production for selling, but the jewelry can still be used as gifts or for personal use.
“I have such a habit of taking a ring I made off my finger and just handing it to a friend,” Wechsler-Azen said.
Outside the Craft Center, the university offers metalsmithing courses in their arts program that can be taken to complete an art minor.
Katie McKechnie, a public relations student with an art minor in metalsmithing, takes a metalsmithing production class through the art program. The class had their 27th annual art sale in Lawrence Hall Nov. 2nd.
“Coming into college, I’d never really pushed myself to try anything that I wasn’t already good at,” McKechnie said. “It’s a lot of attention to detail. And I like moving through things very fast, so it’s forced me to slow down.”
McKechnie said this was the first metalsmithing class she took that put a focus on production rather than design or craftsmanship.
“It really forces you to kind of put those aside and figure out how you are going to get 20 pieces done in five weeks at a level where you can sell it,” she said.
The Craft Center is open to students, staff and community members while the UO classes are limited only to students. Both the Craft Center and the metalsmithing courses in the art department are good resources for an introduction to metalsmithing.
